Community Service Project

May 13, 2009

Madame Deals Gives Back

You heard the phrase it takes a village to raise a child.. well it takes a family to support a person in the military. This cause is very dear to my heart. My husband served in the Navy for 8 years which meant I did as well. I have never been prouder of my husband’s job. His plight to serve in the Navy was filled with many challenges but also with many successes. It made him into the man he is today. It takes an inner strength and determination to put your life on the line and to make your family second. I say that because so many military personnel miss birthdays, weddings, births, anniversaries all in the hopes of keeping “us” safe. We fail to realize the amount of dedication these heroes have for their country. It is the hardest job there is. There isn’t another job out there that requires so much of ones self with little in return. These special people do not deserve to struggle in anyway. It is often difficult to make ends meet because it is very difficult to find a job when you transfer every two years or so as a spouse. The devotion these families have to our country inspired us to do something for them. We chose to collect coupons. It may not sound like a lot but it will help these families immensely.

Coupons for Overseas Troops

In honor of Memorial Day, we have started a community service project that will support our overseas troops. It turns out that overseas military families can use expired manufactures coupons for up to six months after the expiration date at the commissaries. So, instead of throwing away those unwanted and expired coupons, we are sending them overseas!

Only manufactures coupons can be accepted. No Internet printable coupons can be sent.

Tips for making this a great project:

Cut coupons out. This will make it easier for them and less weight for shipping fees!

Sort coupons into two categories; food items and non-food items.

Place categorized coupons into Ziploc bags labeled with Food or Non-food.

Send only coupons that are expired by two months. It takes time for the coupons to get to where they are going!

We have decided to adopt a base through http://www.ocpnet.org/ . We looked over the list of bases in need and decided to adopt U.S. Navy Sigonella, Sicily!

Here is the address:

Director

Navy FSC

PSC 824, Box 2650

FPO AE 09627-2650

Madame Deals plans on having drop boxes available at local businesses. We will update you soon on the locations. If you are not a local please feel free to send your expired coupons to the above address! When you do, please let us know that you sent some so we can thank you!

You can now drop off your UNWANTED and EXPIRED coupons at Mail Boxes Etc. at Lake Monticello! Look for the floral box with the flyer near it. Thank you Mail Boxes Etc. for your support! We hope to have more drop off locations soon.

We are collecting coupons to send overseas to military families in honor of Memorial Day. Madame Deals has adopted US Navy Base Sigonella, Sicily.